UltraFICO™ Score FAQ

6. Has this approach been used before?While this approach to using consumer-permissioned data in a national credit scoring system has not been offered in the past, successful offerings in lending and decisioning have been created that leverage similar data aggregation tech-niques. The mortgage industry is already using consumer-permissioned data for verification of assets and income. Thou-sands of consumers have participated and benefited from the process.

7. What information in consumer accounts is being used to adjust a credit score?The data used from consumer accounts is similar to what is found on bank statements. This data is used to take into account the length of the banking relationship and frequency of use, lack of bounced checks or negative balances and an evidence of savings.

8. Can a consumer be adversely affected by the score?Many lenders see this type of score as providing a second chance to those consumers that have been denied credit. In that regard, if a consumer has positive data in their accounts, they now have an opportunity to opt in and share it with the lender for a positive outcome.

Consumers could be adversely impacted in cases where account activity shows recent or consistently bounced checks or overdrawn accounts, a very brief account history or no indication of savings activity. Consumers are in control and can choose not to opt into the process.

9. How can a consumer access their UltraFICO™ Score?FICO is working with Experian to make the score available to consumers, in a similar manner to how a consumer can access their FICO Score from Experian today. We expect that this will be made available later in 2019 to coincide with the general availability of the score to all lenders.

Consumers can visit www.fico.com/ultrafico to learn more and sign up for notification when the score is available to access.

1. How is Finicity involved in the UltraFICO™ Score?

Finicity provides the technical platform for consumers to permission the use of financial account data. Finicity then manages access and intelligent data aggregation. This data is used in FICO models and implemented by Experian for the UltraFICO™ Score.

2. How does the UltraFICO™ Score work?A consumer would be invited by a lender to participate in the UltraFICO™ scoring process. The consumer securely permissions use of data elements from their checking, savings, and money market accounts. The data is incorporated into FICO’s scoring algorithm alongside data used for a traditional credit score. The UltraFICO™ Score is scaled the same as a traditional FICO score. An UltraFICO™ score of 680 would represent the same amount of risk as a 680 traditional FICO score.

3. How does the UltraFICO™ Score benefit consumers?It helps empower consumers to establish or improve their credit worthiness by using data that reflects responsible financial activity that is not part of a traditional credit report. This can help consumers qualify for the credit they seek under more competitive terms. This approach is particularly helpful for consumers that may have very sparse or inactive credit files and are seeking a path toward greater financial inclusion in mainstream banking. It can also benefit those tens of millions of consumers that fall in the grey area in terms of credit scores (for example the upper 500’s to lower 600’s) and fall just below a lender’s score cut-off.

A credit score can provide access to mainstream financial products and keep consumers from depending on alternative financial products like payday loans.

And, the consumer is always in control, as they can choose to use financial account data or choose not to.

4. How does this benefit lenders?Using the UltraFICO™ Score, lenders gain deeper insights into the credit risk of a prospective customer through a more comprehensive understanding of the consumer’s financial profile.

Uncertainty and risk is reduced by using consumer-permissioned data, providing a view into past financial behaviors. A lender’s lending base can increase with the added data and insights into potential borrowers. As uncertainty around future consumer credit risk is reduced, a lender can do a better job matching the right credit offer to the consumer and as a result become more competitive in the marketplace. The UltraFICO™ Score will be available through existing infrastructure reducing the need for new delivery methods.

5. How does this affect the traditional credit score like FICO® 9?The UltraFICO™ Score does not replace FICO® Score 9 or other traditional FICO® Scores. The UltraFICO™ Score is designed to adjust the traditional FICO® Score using the consumer permissioned data in instances where the traditional FICO® Score is available. It does not matter what version of FICO® Score a lender is using to adopt the UltraFICO™ Score.

UltraFICO™ Score FAQ 1

6. Has this approach been used before?While this approach to using consumer-permissioned data in a national credit scoring system has not been offered in the past, successful offerings in lending and decisioning have been created that leverage similar data aggregation tech-niques. The mortgage industry is already using consumer-permissioned data for verification of assets and income. Thou-sands of consumers have participated and benefited from the process.

7. What information in consumer accounts is being used to adjust a credit score?The data used from consumer accounts is similar to what is found on bank statements. This data is used to take into account the length of the banking relationship and frequency of use, lack of bounced checks or negative balances and an evidence of savings.

8. Can a consumer be adversely affected by the score?Many lenders see this type of score as providing a second chance to those consumers that have been denied credit. In that regard, if a consumer has positive data in their accounts, they now have an opportunity to opt in and share it with the lender for a positive outcome.

Consumers could be adversely impacted in cases where account activity shows recent or consistently bounced checks or overdrawn accounts, a very brief account history or no indication of savings activity. Consumers are in control and can choose not to opt into the process.

9. How can a consumer access their UltraFICO™ Score?FICO is working with Experian to make the score available to consumers, in a similar manner to how a consumer can access their FICO Score from Experian today. We expect that this will be made available later in 2019 to coincide with the general availability of the score to all lenders.

Consumers can visit www.fico.com/ultrafico to learn more and sign up for notification when the score is available to access.

1. How is Finicity involved in the UltraFICO™ Score?

Finicity provides the technical platform for consumers to permission the use of financial account data. Finicity then manages access and intelligent data aggregation. This data is used in FICO models and implemented by Experian for the UltraFICO™ Score.

2. How does the UltraFICO™ Score work?A consumer would be invited by a lender to participate in the UltraFICO™ scoring process. The consumer securely permissions use of data elements from their checking, savings, and money market accounts. The data is incorporated into FICO’s scoring algorithm alongside data used for a traditional credit score. The UltraFICO™ Score is scaled the same as a traditional FICO score. An UltraFICO™ score of 680 would represent the same amount of risk as a 680 traditional FICO score.

3. How does the UltraFICO™ Score benefit consumers?It helps empower consumers to establish or improve their credit worthiness by using data that reflects responsible financial activity that is not part of a traditional credit report. This can help consumers qualify for the credit they seek under more competitive terms. This approach is particularly helpful for consumers that may have very sparse or inactive credit files and are seeking a path toward greater financial inclusion in mainstream banking. It can also benefit those tens of millions of consumers that fall in the grey area in terms of credit scores (for example the upper 500’s to lower 600’s) and fall just below a lender’s score cut-off.

A credit score can provide access to mainstream financial products and keep consumers from depending on alternative financial products like payday loans.

And, the consumer is always in control, as they can choose to use financial account data or choose not to.

4. How does this benefit lenders?Using the UltraFICO™ Score, lenders gain deeper insights into the credit risk of a prospective customer through a more comprehensive understanding of the consumer’s financial profile.

Uncertainty and risk is reduced by using consumer-permissioned data, providing a view into past financial behaviors. A lender’s lending base can increase with the added data and insights into potential borrowers. As uncertainty around future consumer credit risk is reduced, a lender can do a better job matching the right credit offer to the consumer and as a result become more competitive in the marketplace. The UltraFICO™ Score will be available through existing infrastructure reducing the need for new delivery methods.

5. How does this affect the traditional credit score like FICO® 9?The UltraFICO™ Score does not replace FICO® Score 9 or other traditional FICO® Scores. The UltraFICO™ Score is designed to adjust the traditional FICO® Score using the consumer permissioned data in instances where the traditional FICO® Score is available. It does not matter what version of FICO® Score a lender is using to adopt the UltraFICO™ Score.

UltraFICO™ Score FAQ 2